1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet printer, and more specifically to an inkjet printer in which an ink cartridge can be securely installed.
2. Description of the Background Art
In an inkjet printer, while a carriage on which an ink cartridge is installed reciprocates, the ink supplied from the ink cartridge is injected to paper thereby printing characters and the like on the paper. Since the ink cartridge is reciprocated by the carriage, it has to be installed securely in the carriage.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-291320 discloses such a carriage of an inkjet printer. The carriage of the inkjet printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-291320 has, as shown in FIG. 7, a carriage body 101 holding the lower portion of an ink cartridge 111 and a cover body 102 pressing the top surface of the ink cartridge. An arm 103 is provided on the bottom surface of the cover body 102. The arm 103 diagonally downward presses a protrusion 112 projecting upward from the top surface of ink cartridge 111. Arm 103 is biased downward by a first spring 104 provided between arm 103 and cover body 102 and is biased laterally by a second spring 105 provided at the back end portion of arm 103.
In the carriage of the inkjet printer disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-291320, ink cartridge 111 is pressed by the biasing force of two springs 104 and 105. Therefore, a plurality of springs are required, thereby increasing the number of components. Moreover, a complicated structure for holding a plurality of springs is required. As a result, these requirements inevitably cause increase in the product costs.
In addition, disadvantageously, two springs need to be incorporated during the assembly of the carriage in the manufacturing process of the inkjet printer, thereby increasing the process steps in the assembly operation.